Between the unemployment and the emergency room visits and the hospital paperwork I keep messing up and the snow... oh the snow... I'm so sick of the cold. Between all that - yoga is my connection to sanity. It's our little bit of absolute reliability every day. Every morning, without fail, we get up and do sun salutations then some inversions - followed by a long cozy meditation. Then we cuddle - but that's just our weird little sappy married people thing. Our full practice may or may not come later, but that morning practice is always there.
This country is all about pushing people to their limits... pushing them until they burn out and then laughing at them for burning out and pushing them some more. We've been thinking and talking about that a lot. Some people just handle being pushed better than others. Some people are worriers. To those people when you say "stop stressing", they can only ask "HOW?!?". Yoga is one good answer, but many don't see how yoga is supposed to help. They may even stop because they don't see the change right away.
John Friend (founder of Anusara yoga) has often said that the 1 or 2 hours a day of asana practice is literally practice for how you deal with the other 22 - 23 hours a day. Practice isn't like stamping yourself new and improved - it doesn't just happen immediately. Just like practicing anything else - handling things with more equanimity comes in tiny bits. Eventually those bits add up into a fully transformed life, but at first it's a slow build-up.
Other tips for lowering stress:
Eat the healthiest food you can afford (fruits and veggies mostly)
Exercise
Spend time in nature
Specifically, try the beach where the air ionization is perfect for lifting moods.
Spend time with people you love and laugh as much as possible.
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